People are asking me how to make their own photoalbum like CAPTURED. The reason I started the album was because I wanted a way to look through my pictures easily (and I hated scrolling through them on my computer) so with the aid of too much time on my hands, I used a graphics program, batched all my pictures so they were the same size, wrote some simple HTML (with iFrames…this was back in 2002 okay) and hosted my images locally. Eventually I uploaded it to my server so my friends could see it and now it’s where it’s at today.
It took me months but I finally revamped CAPTURED !! I imported everything into Wordpress’ NextGen Gallery Plugin MANUALLY (200+ galleries, 6000+ images). I’ve been meaning to do this since March and it’s finally done. I hope I never have to do it again so if you’re going to start now, start with a solid platform you think you’ll stick to.
Why I’d rather have my own gallery rather than use another web service/upload on Facebook/etc:
- Total control over my gallery and make it look and function how I want it (I’m sooo anal and FB just doesn’t cut it for me).
- Don’t have to deal with uploading problems (culprit: Facebook!!).
- I know it’ll be around forever (…or as long as I keep my web server).
- 8 years of of EMBARRASSING pictures = great memories!! It’s also interesting to see how we grew up and things we did in chronological order.
Advantages of NextGen Gallery Plugin for Wordpress:
- Will generate thumbnails and custom original image sizes for you so you don’t need another program to resize them.
- Easy to create multiple albums, galleries and integrating them into blog posts/pages.
- Images can be displayed how you want it (thumbnails, slideshow, etc).
- My album use to be public but I recently made it private because I was uncomfortable with certain people I know creeping my sites looking at my pictures. With WP, you can control who looks at them.
Tips:
- Use any CMS you want. I chose Wordpress because I was familiar with it.
- Remember to do regular database back-ups just in case anything happens.
- Keep your galleries organized in separate folders on your computer.
to be honest i’ve still got a long way to go with wordpress. lol i probably might take forever posting pictures myself.
however, i think it’s a great idea and you’re right you have total control and it’s a great way to just keep memories with you and wow 8 years thats an awesome long time having the same server 
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I actually stumbled upon your shop last night and was thinking of buying it
) oh and my fave perfume would have to be versace bright crystal .. and viva la juicy! They have similar scents.
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This… means nothing to me lol.
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awesome katy! i’ve been meaning to do this on my site FOREVER now but never knew what platform, script, etc. to use!
How did you make yours private? (through wordpress or just by making friends make their own account?)
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Katy
January 5th, 2010 |
I used a separate plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/private-wp/
Good luck!!
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i love to get my photos organized too . good thing is that my image files are filed up neatly in my computer
i get irritated when i can’t find my photos !
but this site u’re hosting is amazing !
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Wow it looks so organized! Really nice, good job. I think I’ll try that plugin when I can.
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Wow this is reallyyyy good! Now that I think about it, I have some feeling that one day I’ll loose the captured memories despite me having backed it up on various computers & USBs.
I use to be so into HTML and enjoyed it so much and wish I did continue with it, if only some things weren’t in the way. I guess I didn’t have as much access as I have now.
Btw thank you so much for leaving me a comment
Happy New Year to you too!
xxx
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I used to host photos of me and my friends on my site, but now Facebook does it, and I don’t really care. I really don’t like things like school projects being hosted elsewhere, though. I keep them all on my server, while my friends use Flickr and DevArt, because I like the control.
I also use NextGen, and I love it. The Albums vs Gellery thing is a bit confusing at first (they’re backward to what I would think they should be), but meh!
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